Contents

History

Kentucky was founded as a county of the state of Virginia in 1776. Kentucky County was divided into three counties in 1780, and the three became a state in their own right in 1792. Kentucky was the fifteenth state to enter the Union, after Vermont the previous year. During the Civil War, Kentucky's government remained loyal to the Union, though a Confederate government based itself in Bowling Green, in the south of the state. The state was invaded in September 1861, and its capital, Frankfort, was captured by Confederate forces in 1862, the only Union capital to fall into Confederate hands during the war.[1]

Sports

Kentucky is best-known for its men's college basketball teams, most notably the University of Kentucky Wildcats and University of Louisville Cardinals. The University of Kentucky (UK) traditionally has been the dominant of the two, having won seven NCAA titles. According to Sagarin ratings, the 1996 UK team is the highest-ranked college basketball team in NCAA history. Many UK basketball players have gone on to play in the NBA. The UK basketball team has recently lost its dominance, and the in-state rivalry between the two universities has become less one-sided.

Football has become increasingly associated with Kentucky as well, due to the University of Louisville's team's growth under the coaching of Bobby Petrino. In 2007, the Cardinals competed in and won at the Orange Bowl. During the 2007 football season, the University of Kentucky has been extremely successful compared to the past, having beaten several ranked teams, including Louisville and #1 (at the time) LSU.

Kentucky is allowed to seat six representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives, and these seats are held by Republicans Ed Whitfield, Brett Guthrie, Geoff Davis, and Hal Rogers, and Democrats John Yarmuth and Ben Chandler, a grandson of the late baseball commissioner and Democratic Governor Happy Chandler.

The Kentucky State Senate has 22 Republicans, 15 Democrats, and one Independent. The Kentucky House, however, has 59 Democrats and 41 Republicans.